Croatians

The women's slalom was raced Wednesday in white-out conditions for the winners and the usual wipeout conditions for the Americans. These Olympics are beginning to have a familiar sting to them. Croatia's Janica Kostelic continues to stand tall through finish lines while American women fall down.

Tommy Lapid, an Israeli legislator and Holocaust survivor, had to think twice about whether to attend Wednesday's special parliamentary session in honor of Croatia's president, Stipe Mesic. Haunted by his own family's ordeal, the Yugoslav-born Lapid also recalled the tens of thousands of Jews killed in the Balkans in World War II, when a Nazi puppet regime ruled Croatia and ran the Jasenovac extermination camp.

The government ordered hospitals to stop using dialysis filters made by a U.S. company after 23 patients undergoing treatment with the devices died over six days, the prime minister said Sunday. All the patients who died had received treatment from dialyzers made by Baxter International Inc. of Deerfield, Ill., Prime Minister Ivica Racan said, leading to "suspicion that the filters made by Baxter could have caused these tragic events."

The U.N. war crimes tribunal announced Thursday that it has indicted a Croatian general, the second one in as many days. Both men are considered heroes in Croatia for defending the country during a war with Serbs in the early 1990s. As the arrest warrant for retired Gen. Ante Gotovina was being unsealed, Gen. Rahim Ademi pleaded innocent to charges of crimes against humanity.

A Croatian army general surrendered to the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague to face charges that his troops killed dozens of Serb civilians, including elderly disabled women, during the war in Croatia. Gen. Rahim Ademi faces charges that he oversaw a wartime campaign that left 70 Serb civilians dead and hundreds of homes in ashes.

Thousands of dancing and flag-waving Croatians celebrated, some diving into harbors, to mark the Wimbledon title of native son Goran Ivanisevic. "Never has Goran played such quality tennis in his life," longtime sports commentator Mico Dusanovic howled Monday as Ivanisevic completed his 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 2-6, 9-7 victory over Pat Rafter. "This is the match of his life. Don't hold back the tears."

Bosnian Muslim experts have exhumed the remains of 19 bodies, believed to be those of Muslims and Croats who had been held in Serbian camps, from a pit in western Bosnia-Herzegovina, an official said. The Muslim Commission for Missing Persons said the panel suspects that the victims were Muslims and Croats from the Kamenica and Prekaja camps who were held by Serbs during Bosnia's 1992-95 war. The 24-foot-deep pit is near the town of Drvar, about 100 miles west of Sarajevo, the capital.

The Croat member of Bosnia's presidency said Wednesday that his ethnic group was splitting from the federation Croats share with Muslims under the international peace accords that set up an independent Bosnia. "Let it be clear: From today on, the federation is a [Bosnian Muslim] national entity without the Croats," Ante Jelavic told about 2,000 supporters in the central Bosnian town of Busovaca.

Croatia's most successful Olympic athlete ever was killed at his home, police at Zagreb said Thursday. Canoeist Matija Ljubek, 46, was shot and killed Wednesday. His brother-in-law, Marko Varzic, a major in the Croatian army, was arrested on suspicion of killing Ljubek and another cousin the same evening. Croatian newspapers said Varzic reportedly had psychiatric problems and killed the two men because of a family argument.

The U.S. men's water polo team knew its Olympic road would be a tough one. Just how tough became clear in its tournament opener today, a 10-7 loss to Croatia at Ryde Aquatic Center in Sydney. Able to isolate players in front of the net with surprising ease, Croatia used a pinpoint passing game to distance itself from the U.S. in the first quarter. Center forward Igor Hinic led Croatia with three goals and center back Ratko Stritof and driver Samir Barac each scored two.